Hearts of Iron 3 development complete

Paradox Interactive announced that production has been completed on Hearts of Iron 3 - or, as we like to say in the news department - the game has gone gold. The third installment of the World War II-themed grand strategy series, Hearts of Iron 3 is ready for release North American retail shelves and all major digital download portals on August 7. The game will hit stores in the UK and Scandinavia on August 14 and Germany and France on August 28.

Featuring turn-based battle simulations that occur throughout 1936-1948, Hearts of Iron 3 will promises to appeal to both veteran players and newcomers with brand new features, including a game map with more than 14,000 land and sea provinces. Players will have the opportunity to take control of countries ranging from larger superpowers such as Russia or the United States, to smaller nations such as Costa Rica.

For more details on Hearts of Iron 3, check out www.paradoxplaza.com.

Europa Universalis: Rome - GOLD ships to retail

Paradox Interactive’s Europa Universalis: Rome - GOLD has shipped to stores in the United States and Europe. This new compilation contains the original grand strategy game set in ancient times - EU: Rome, along with what Paradox calls “substantial updates” via the Vae Victis expansion pack. It’s not hyperbole to say that, for many years, the Europa Universalis series has proven to be the standard bearer for high level grand strategy games. I’ll leave the analysis on the series to experts like Troy Goodfellow and Tom Chick, but there’s no denying the series has lasted this long for a reason.

Europa Universalis: Rome - GOLD offers new features previously only available through the digital download only expansion pack, like AI controlled opponents now behave with more vigor and purpose, governments that have more power over what happens in a given nation, Senates and tribal councils that test the player with missions and objectives, ands all the usual trade, diplomacy, production and war you’d expect from a Europa Universalis game.

Europa Universalis: Rome - GOLD has a SRP of $19.99/ € 19.99/£14.99 and will also be available on all leading digital distribution portals on July 10, 2009.

Carcassonne coming to DS

Koch Media has secured the license for the handheld adaptation of the classic board game Carcassonne through an agreement with Hans im Glück Verlags GmbH of Munich, Germany. Koch Media published the first PC version of Carcassonne in 2002; In the second half of 2009, the Nintendo DS edition will be released under the Deep Silver games label.

Carcassonne for Nintendo DS is being billed as a “true adaption” of the original board game, complete with the main game and the River expansion. While the adaptation is true to the original, it will feature three additional locations: the Asian, Arabic, and Nordic worlds. Three different game modes are also available: a story mode that features several levels and a storyline to move the action along; a Quick game mode that allows [layers get to determine the number and strength of AI opponents for the next match; and a multiplayer mode featuring both Single-Card Play and Multi-Card Play for up to five players.

1C Preps Empire: Time of Troubles for 2009

1C Company and Lesta Studio are working on Empire: Time of Troubles, a turn-based, historical strategy game which covers the events of 1350-1650 taking place in Russia, Poland and the Great Lithuanian Princedom. Players will command one of 26 factions in a large-scale historical campaign , building and assigning labor forces in cities, researching and utilizing technology, and utilizing more than 150 types of military units.

The game also promises political, economic and role playing systems, gameplay that highlights the importance of war and diplomacy , and dozens of famous historical personalities and hundreds of game characters, each with their own unique specialties including rulers, commanders, priests, alchemists and spies.

More details on this game can be found at www.1cpublishing.eu. The game is scheduled for release sometime in 2009.

Military Madness Reborn

Military Madness, the classic turn-based strategy game published by Hudson Entertainment, is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network, and WiiWare, the company announced this week. This new version of the strategic combat simulation game includes a graphical make-over, new units, online co-op and vs. multiplayer (four person online) and a bunch of other new features. Due to be ready this summer, Military Madness has been rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).